January 8

As one whom his mother comforteth, so will I comfort you; and ye shall be comforted in Jerusalem. - Isaiah 66:13.

THE anxious, tender mother regards with affectionate solicitude all her children, but she is most concerned for the poor, weakly, sickly child. The knee, the bosom is for him, for him is the prepared delicacy, the noiseless room, and the breathless step, and the frequent watching and leaning over the bed of languishing, and the entreated reception of the offensive draught, accompanied with the sincere assurance-“Ah, my child, how gladly would I take it for thee!” And thus it is with the Lord’s afflicted people.

The Lord has assured to them, and provided for them, very special privileges. As their day, so their strength is. And as the sufferings of Christ abound in them, their consolation also aboundeth by Christ; and thousands can testify that they have had clearer discoveries, richer communications, and tenderer supports, under their most painful trials and afflictions, than they ever experienced in seasons of ease and prosperity. And what do we need more than this to soothe and comfort us? If the Lord be my portion, what can I want beside? “God,” says the church, “is our refuge and strength; a very present help in time of trouble.” No creature can be substituted for him, but he is more than a substitute for every creature, and his presence peoples, and fertilizes, and gladdens the gloomiest desert.

“Behold,” says God, “I will allure her, and bring her into the wilderness, and there will I speak comfortably unto her. And I will give her her vineyards from thence, and the valley of Achor for a door of hope; and she shall sing there, as in the days of old.”